I have been accepted to all three schools and they are at the top of my list. Tuition is not an issue and so, ranked financially, they are all the same.
I plan to attend graduate school for philosophy and then either work at a think tank or go into academia. I am looking for a college with a strong intellectual social culture that doesn’t just learn to take the test, but actually dives into the core of subjects through discussion and debate. For these reasons, I was initially drawn to the culture of St. John’s College, but after further thought, was wondering if I could find this same culture at Vassar or the Eugene Lang College of the New School: both of these colleges offer more academic flexibility and more to do in terms of a college experience.
I think you can find that at vassar but the culture and experience at all three of these is very different! I don’t know the other two colleges well but do you want the very urban feel of the New School? The very specific curriculum at St John’s? Or more traditional college at Vassar? Have you visited all?
I’ve been able to visit Vassar and plan on visiting St. John’s College and The New School later this month. Above all, I am looking for an intellectual social environment, which seems to be the case at St. John’s College, but I am also considering Vassar and The New School because of their more modern philosophy focus and access to career opportunities. I guess my mind is going through this strand of thought: would Vassar and The New School better set me up to be apart of an intellectual scene, given their proximity to New York, post-graduation?
As you already know, these are VERY different schools. St. John’s attracts a specific type of student and it’s either a fit or it’s not. I understand its appeal to a certain type of person. One thing to keep in mind. Vassar will definitely give you more options if you change your mind regarding your academic interests. Most people don’t end up pursuing what they thought they were going to pre-college. That’s a very common situation. At St. John’s it’s impossible to pivot. You are signed up for “the program”. If you decide it’s not for you, or find your calling seems to be in a different field, or if Ancient Greek at St John’s sings to you and you want to study it more but can’t because the program curriculum has moved on to the next topic, you’re out of luck. Also I’ve heard transferring is hard because of the incompatibility of some of the classes. Keep that in mind.
Vassar will offer you the intellectual stimulation you’re after but will keep more options open within that framework. In addition, there’ll be more opportunity for cross pollination of ideas and to explore new subjects.
St John’s - either you love the program and all its components, or it’s not for you.
The New School would not be at the same level as the above - more private school kids who don’t want to leave NYC but have intellectual ambitions but less diversity of profiles&thought, so ultimately less enriching intellectually.
Politically (if that matters), St John’s will be the most conservative, Vassar liberal, and The New School more liberal than Vassar.
Can you spend a day shadowing a student at any of these?
Is one cheaper than the others?
If you calculate (tuition, fees, room, board) - (scholarships, grants) =$, what do you find (do not subtract any loan) for each? We may also be able to help wrt ROI or value.
I’m a Vassar student – there’s definitely an intellectual culture here, and spaces you can find it. Also are people who are really invested in the academic culture on weekdays, but want to relax/ drink on weekends. That’s by no means everyone though.
Check this out: Doctorates Awarded :: Institutional Research :: Swarthmore College
Go down to the link where you can open their table with 8 broad categories, where they give percentages of graduating students who get a PhD. I imagine you’d just be interested in the
Humanities and Arts part: St John’s College is 2nd (5.18%) and Vassar 12th (3.30%)
General: St John’s College 22nd (12.0%) and Vassar 26th (11.3%)
So St. Johns beats out Vassar in both categories, but not by much.
(I also recognize that this is a poor way of measuring intellectual culture but thought it was interesting).
Of course, 11.3% of Vassar is way more people than 12.0% of St John’s College… and with that sheer number of people comes diversity of thought, ideas, etc. Though I also can see the appeal of really diving into that community.
I had an Environmental Philosophy prof last year who went St John’s College not too long ago. I was talking to him about St John’s, and he told me that he really appreciated having gone there, but that he really regretted how Eurocentric the curriculum was, and how narrow it ended up being (and implicitly, how this still affected his thinking and framework for understanding the world). Not sure how St John’s has dealt with this, but it can be hard at such a small school to get enough faculty to mix things up. For me, that would be the make and break. This semester, my profs got their undergrads in Kenya, France, Chile, and Texas, and I’ve read theory and ideas from all six continents. I love that, and love how free I feel with taking classes I want to take. I’ve bought into the multidisciplinary model, and think that engaging with a variety of genres can help really lead to the robust discussion you write about. But I also totally see the appeal of St John’s. (Don’t know anything worth commenting on the New School, sorry!) Good luck deciding!